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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Land Of Mountains - A Book Review

Dang it! I finished the book!! I started reading Land of Mountains in short spurts, hoping to prolong the process because Jinx Schwartz’s writing is just that good… This was a foray into the unknown. Would I like the book? I loved the Hetta Coffee series by the same author… would this totally unrelated story be as interesting?

My initial doubts about the book being for young readers were instantly quelled. Phooey! So what if the main character is a kid. I think, after reading it all, that’s the only reason she could get away with all the stuff she does in the book. Very early on I “became one” with 'Lizbuthann as only happens with a gifted writer. Everything that happened to her... happened to ME!

I was hooked from the moment Elizabeth Ann stepped off the plane and decided not to tell her mother about the heads. A bond of secrecy was forged that carried through the entire book. We roamed the mountain paths and I feared the Voodoo woman. I want a zombie of of own...

I love this smart, scrappy, resilient little girl and how the physical hardships of life in Haiti were incidental in her mind. Living with few luxuries and making the world up as she goes, the secrets of adolescence shared only with the reader… it all creates a vivid experience that had me eagerly flipping the pages, hurtling across the river in a bucket and tromping through the mud towards the end all too soon.

I don’t know if it’s the “Texas connection” or perhaps having grown up in a time when a kid could still roam free… but whatever it is, this book has “It"! Pay the money, get the book, clear your schedule and settle in for a wild ride.